For National Inclusion Week, OpenStoryTellers and Green & Healthy Frome spotlight learning-disabled voices, confronting the question: Does climate change disproportionately affect the learning disabled?
A vivid new perspective
A new short film created by learning-disabled artists in Frome blends animation, live action and illustration to reveal how climate change is already shaping disabled people’s daily lives.
From reliance on public transport to reduced access to healthcare and community spaces, the film makes a compelling case for why disabled voices must be central to climate action.
During National Inclusion Week (15–21 September 2025), the project calls for urgent recognition of disabled people’s experiences in climate planning and policy.
About the project
Commissioned by Green & Healthy Frome and created by OpenStoryTellers, a creative day service led by people with learning disabilities in Frome – the project brought together professional facilitators and learning-disabled artists over several months.
Through storytelling, textiles, animation and film, they explored the central question: Does climate change affect us all equally?
The centrepiece, a short film ‘Journey Through Time and Climate’, is inspired by real-life bus journeys. Poetic yet urgent, the film highlights both the obvious vulnerabilities faced by disabled people – such as dependence on public transport and social care, and the everyday, often-overlooked barriers that climate change intensifies.
Voices from the project
“Climate change is already affecting the learning disabled disproportionately, yet they’re too often excluded from planning, policy, and public conversation. This film highlights the obvious inequalities but also showcases the nuanced, less obvious barriers that this community manages in their everyday lives.”
— Charlotte, OpenStoryTellers
“This is an absolute must-see. This beautifully insightful perspective will give public transport entirely new meaning.”
— Becky Lovegrove
“It has been a fascinating insight into the things you have to observe every day – and the things that can be really scary.”
— Cllr Anita Collier, Mayor of Frome, speaking with OpenStoryTellers artists after the premiere
“Climate change compounds existing inequalities. For people already facing barriers, disrupted transport, unsafe buildings, and reduced access to healthcare cut them off from the support and community spaces they rely on every day.”
— Annabel Crooke, Green & Healthy Frome
Why it matters
Disabled people are among the groups most affected by the climate crisis, yet their experiences are routinely overlooked in planning, policy and public conversation. This project shows how inclusive creative practice can shift narratives and generate solutions grounded in lived experience. Journey Through Time and Climate highlights that disability inclusion must be central to climate justice.
👉 Watch the film here.
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